A life lived between worlds.

William Widmaier is a novelist, poet, and screenwriter whose pages capture the luminous complexities of life, memory, and culture. Born of dual American and French roots, he spent long childhood summers at his grandparents’ stone house near Saint-Tropez—days steeped in the scents of Provençal kitchens, the salt of the Mediterranean, and the quiet alchemy of family stories. Those early seasons became the living soil from which his writing continues to grow.

Long before he surrendered fully to the written word, Widmaier built a distinguished career as a marketing and design executive in California. He led creative teams through periods of rapid growth at EarthLink and later served as Vice President of Global Product Design at Symantec (NortonLifeLock), where he shaped consumer experiences for a worldwide audience. Parallel to that professional life, he pursued the quieter calling of language: magazine columns, produced screenplays (including the Warner Bros./Concorde feature Virtual Seduction), and editorial work that bridged cultures. As editor of The Memoirs Project in collaboration with the French Consulate, he helped preserve the oral histories of American veterans who had fought on French soil during the Second World War—an endeavor that deepened his lifelong dialogue between the two countries he calls home.

In 2010, while still immersed in the corporate world, he published his debut novel, A Feast at the Beach. Drawing on those childhood summers, the book is a tender, sensory portrait of late-1960s Provence—its flavors, its humor, its quiet complexities. Critics and readers welcomed it warmly; it was released at a star-studded gathering hosted by David Martinon, then Consul General of France, at the official residence in Beverly Hills. The novel became both a personal milestone and a literary affirmation of the voice he had long nurtured in the margins of a demanding career.

In late 2020 he closed the corporate chapter, trading the West Coast for the old-world light of southwestern France. He and his wife settled into a restored 18th-century estate in Occitanie, where the slower pastoral rhythms—the turning of seasons, the care of stone walls and garden—opened new space for reflection. From that landscape emerged The Laughter of Small Gods (2024), a collection of short fiction, poetry, and whispered prose that has been praised for its intimacy, wit, and emotional resonance.  His forthcoming novel, Tales of the Kraken: The Wolf with Two Legs, continues the conversation with rural France—a love letter with teeth, equal parts cozy reinvention and slow-burn thriller, anchored by Kraken, one of the most endearing characters readers are likely to meet.

William is married to the impressionist painter Tiaré Olivia Ferrari. Her work may be seen at: www.TiareFerrari.com